Provincetown
The night is a tide
that pulls young men
into the Provincetown streets
after the drag queen
tea parties
the sunburns
after the dinners
the wine
the best-in-underwear contests
the dancing, the dancing, the dancing
after the music fades
to the last thump, thump
he sits on the wooden steps
of his side street house
in a polo shirt and pearls
flexing his ancient muscles
his grey hairy arms reach for
a memory, mid air
he rubs a tumbler of aged bourbon
like a lamp
watching, waiting
for who might wash in
Deig Sullivan is a writer based in New York City who also works in the field of cultural strategy. Her work received a Plaza Poetry Prize (4th place) and was long listed for the Winchester Poetry Prize.